The late comedian Rodney Dangerfield, who was actually named Jacob Cohen, used to kvetch, “I don’t get no respect.”
Shmini Atzeret is a holiday that, like Dangerfield, doesn’t get much respect. It’s not like Passover, with the Seder and the matzah. It’s not like Sukkot, the holiday that it immediately follows, with the mitzvot of dwelling in the sukkah and waving the lulav and etrog.
Shmini Atzeret doesn’t get much respect because we struggle to know what to make of it. Of course, it’s a Biblical holiday just as much as those other days. But there’s not much specific to Shmini Atzeret; the Torah simply says that we are to assemble on this day – without saying what we should do once we assemble. Liturgically, it is on Shmini Atzeret that the first mention of rain in prayers is introduced, as recorded in the Talmud’s tractate Taanit, because this is when the rainy season begins in Israel.
Shmini Atzeret and its better-known twin, Simhat Torah, are combined into one day in Israel. In the Diaspora, they are observed separately, with one day devoted to each.
Simhat Torah is when we finish one annual cycle of reading the Torah and begin the next. It’s a spirited and fun holiday for adults and for kids, and everyone present receives an aliyah to the Torah after fervent dancing and singing.
Of course, Simhat Torah, developing over time from the medieval period, is really nothing other than the second day of Shmini Atzeret, since all Biblical holidays aside from Yom Kippur are observed an extra day in the Diaspora.
Normally, the memorial prayer of Yizkor is recited on the last day of these holidays. In the Diaspora, where the second and last day of Shmini Atzeret is that wild and fun Simhat Torah, when it wouldn’t fit, we move Yizkor to Shmini Atzeret. Normally, Shmini Atzeret wouldn’t even get that.
Truly a holiday without respect...until we consider a midrash in the Talmud’s tractate Sukkah that explains what Shmini Atzeret is all about, long before Simhat Torah was conceived.
The Torah enumerates the grand scope of the sacrifices for the seven days of Sukkot during Temple times: on the first day, no fewer than 13 bulls were offered, along with two rams, 14 lambs, and the meal offerings that went with each, plus a goat, a burnt offering, another meal offering, and a libation.
The next day, 12 bulls plus all the rest were offered. The day after, 11 bulls plus all the rest. And so on, through the end of Sukkot, making an astounding quantity of sacrifices, including 70 bulls.
The midrash notices this number, and says it is no coincidence. The 70 bulls correspond to the 70 nations of the earth as the rabbis counted them then. And we know from the haftarah at the beginning of Sukkot (Zechariah 14) that in fact representatives of the nations of the world were to come to Jerusalem on Sukkot to offer sacrifices in the Temple.
The midrash connects the dots and says that during Sukkot, the holiday on which the nations of the world come to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices, it’s like a huge party: all those tourists speaking exotic languages, wandering the streets of Jerusalem and culminating their pilgrimages with offerings at the Temple.
And then they go home.
It’s like a party, where the guests have had a truly wonderful time and have now gone home. And the people who are closest to the host stay a bit longer in the party’s afterglow. The dishes can wait till the morning. Now is the time, says the midrash, for some quality time just between Israel and the Holy One.
On Shmini Atzeret, only one bull gets sacrificed. It’s a modest sacrifice. At this point in the party, we’re just noshing from the leftovers in the chip bowl. We’ve taken off our shoes and put our feet up, and we are comfortable with each other in a quiet and intimate setting that is a wonderful counterpoint to the hustle and bustle of the week-long blast that just ended.
Shmini Atzeret and Simhat Torah are that intimate after-party. Those other holidays with a bigger draw have passed, and they were great. But now we get to have a little quiet time with each other and with God, and this is also good. We can cherish this time. And you might even say that it’s something we can respect.
Rabbi Steven Schwarzman’s books include Shma Koleinu: A Jewish People’s Commentary on the Siddur, and (with Dov Peretz Elkins) Enveloped in Light: A Tallit Sourcebook, both available at Amazon.